Synopsis

Hoichiro Ohma works in an office. Everybody knows him as a silent, humble man. Even his girlfriend, Nanase, doesn't suspect that he could be something more, but he is. When a person dies as a victim of murder; when someone kills himself with a curse on his lips; when someone's death needs to be judged, he is there, for he is a Judge Of Darkness. Following the Laws Of Darkness, with a book made of human skin and an unusual parrot, he pronounces judgement over living criminals that would otherwise go free.

The concept of this story isn't that bad. They could have done more with it. Action is a bit lacking and it's rather generic at best. It's short (thank god), but still has low rewatchability as there isn't much there to make you want to rewatch it. Animation is typical of it's age. Characters are easy to forget and anime as a whole is worth watching if you seen most of them and are experimenting with OVAs or something. Easy to find cheap on dvd if desired, but there's much better anime to spend your money on.

Yami no Shihosha Judge isn't a known anime for a reason. The concept of the story is rather interesting but it doesn't work well as a horror.

The main character resembles Clark Kent. He is a nerdy and kind guy at work but when no one is looking he turns into a super hero whose goal is to bring justice upon vilains (by killing tchem ofc). We don't get to know why is he that way, who exactly is he and what is his story. He definetly isn't a "generic good guy" but unfortunately he isn't memorable either.

When it comes to the art & music
they are fairly ok for a 1991 anime. My only objection is that the music sometimes doesn't match the scenes.

And finally the most important aspect: "Why is YSJ not good as a horror?".
#1 There were only 3 scary scenes in the entire movie. It definetly is not enough for a horror that lasts 48 minutes.
#2 All of these scenes were really unrealistic. Maybe it's only me but i don't find magical books, weird deformed ghosts and birds which can cut you scary.
#3 The ending didn't leave me with any tention. When the story came to an end i felt as if nothing has happened. I think that if it was longer it might have been much better but it all happened to fast.

To conclude i don't recommend you YSJ unless you are an otaku hipster and want to show off your anime knowledge.

Judgement has always been known to occur. From how we were raised to the religion we fall under. Although, the exact rules of death are unclear. Seeing, how you must be dead to be aware. With no accurate documentation of witness reflections we can only guess how it will play. In comes this movie to fill the blanks to from what we already know to be true.

Like
-plot is believable. Plot left me with no raise questions. whom am i to say mediums exist or not? Or the dead can speak or not. Such questions most do not have answers for. Plot
is also very thorough. Anyone can make a stand and set a scene but you can tell from the words they used that they did their research for the area of study.

Dislike
-in rare times in the film i was struck in awe! For example, if i were to pay you a hefty sum for a job i expect to know everything. Not to find out before it is too late. Yet, the way the constructed the character it had it seemed like he would care enough to do that. However, why didn't he? In short, the character development is a tad askew.

Yami no Shihosha Judge is not bad I have to say, but It`s not good either. The story and concept behind it is quite promising but the way it is showed in anime destroyed all the potential that it has and made it an average animation.

This adaptation was made in 1991 and when you takie this into account the animation and sound effects is quite good. However music sometimes doesn`t fit current situation and gets annoying over time.

To begin with character design is nothing special. Main character is a quiet office worker and at the first sight nothing unusual stands out about him that only
passively watches everything around him . His second judge "form" is an total opposite. This contrast makes him kinda interesting but it`s the only thing that will get viever attention when it comes to characters.

The storyline in Judge is chaotic and the only thing that matches horror genere is a way that anime follows the plot. Jumpscares with "demonic" bird and a book made out of flesh are not enough to scare the audience.

For me Yami no Shihosha Judge is a mediocre OVA that can kill some time but surely there are better animations to watch and I would recommend something different than this.